A friend of mine runs an animal rescue organization (Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society for those in the Calgary area) that primarily finds stray animals or is given surrenders from the area reserves. They have discovered some very young puppies in a culvert that they can’t get out. The concern is that the rain we are expecting starting tonight will drown them, so there is some urgency with getting them out.
They are about 15 feet in. The culvert goes down gradient and curves - they can’t see the end of it. A dog catcher pole is not long enough, so the thinking is that they can use a painters pole and rig something up. However, because of the curve, the straight pole won’t work.
They have tried digging, but on top of the concern about collapse of the old, rusty culvert before they get to them, four hours of digging in the clayey, gravelly sandstone only got them a few feet, so this is probably not an option.
Any suggestions on other tools or existing implements they can use?
Any mountain climbers known by anyone in the group? Spelunkers? Maybe contact a local sports club and see if anyone with equipment is willing to try repelling? Once a person is down there, maybe a carrier can be sent down, load puppies in, and drag the carrier up. Then pull up the person.
That would be awesome, but this is a teeny culvert and a person can’t fit in it. A small child perhaps, but that’s way too dangerous for a child. Also, to clarify, it’s more horizontal than vertical.
Could they rig something up with a garden hose? Sturdy, flexible, and open at both ends, so they could slip the catch wire through the hose and be able to tighten it from the street end. Maybe? Let us know how it turns out.
I’m not sure if you have any vertical space before you hit curves, but maybe they could attach the hose to a pole for a little more control? Fingers crossed!
I would borrow a female dog who’s just had puppies and take her, along with water and several cans of the smelliest cat food you can find, to the culvert. Maybe the pups would come when they hear and smell her.
If the hose isn’t stiff enough try a pvc pipe as they bend well in narrow sizes. Use a half inch diameter pipe with a looped garrot of stiff rope you can pull tight as needed. At 15 feet you will need over double that length rope as it will be doubled inside the pipe. You don’t want a slip knot. I’ve gotten cats out of trees this way.
Is it possible to dig around the culvert with something like a backhoe?
As an aside, I was digging in the clay in my yard today to make a hole to put a shrub in, and it took a long time to just make a small hole - I have total sympathy for trying to do some serious digging in this clay/gravel shit we have here.
Is it worth calling the Alberta Humane Society, or the SPCA for assistance?
The Michigan Humane Society rescued a pup from a drain in February '12, so the organisation may at least have some knowledge (if not a crew) that would help.
Spray any kind of citrus into the culvert. Dogs hate the smell of citrus. Get a good underhand pitcher or bowler to land several lemons or limes as far back as possible, into the culvert. Be sure to stab them with a knife ( the limes, not the puppies)? That will release more of the citrus acid.
Hmmm 15 feet into the culvert. That may be too far for an underhand pitcher or bowler.
Go to the hardware store and buy PVC piping, 3 inch diameter about 6 ft long. Cap it off at one end. You now have a potato gun. But load it with sliced up limes, then blast them into the culvert. Not only will the puppies exit pronto, they will be sporting puckers at both ends for the rest of the weekend.
If all else fails, a shopvac with enough hose duct-taped together, and you can use the suction to pluck 'em out. Obviously, make sure the opening is small enough so that they don’t actually get vacuumed down the hose, and if the vacuum is too strong by testing it on yourself, just introduce some leaks along the way.
Without their mother around, pups respond to the smell of another bitch even if she’s not lactating. Apparently it’s the fur that they’re interested in.
Any chance of rubbing some cloth over the coat of a female dog and luring them out with that?
It’s not a tunnel, it’s a culvert too small for a person to fit in. Which means the hose, with the help of the solid plastic tube/wand on the end, shouldn’t really be too hard to keep straight, since the culvert itself will guide it. But even still, it would be trivial to duct-tape a stick/pole/pvc pipe to the vacuum hose in order to keep it straight.